1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lawn mower of the sickle-bar type in which the blade has a combined reciprocating and orbital motion and can be used for regular mowing as well as for close-in trimming.
2. Prior Art
Most of the motor driven lawn mowers in use today are of the rotating blade type, although sickle-bar type lawnmowers are also known.
The closest known prior art of the sickle-bar type are the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,200 to T. T. Bathurst issued Oct. 6, 1953, U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,286 to K. Miller issued Oct. 16, 1962, U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,481 to R. L. Tweedale issued June 7, 1966.
The Bathurst patent discloses a sickle-bar lawn mower having a relatively massive oscillating blade of great longitudinal depth with both blade sides exposed at the front and rear of the machine. Additionally because of the longitudinal depth and size of the blade, very little if any to-and-fro or longitudinal motion of the blade occurs, producing cutting action in only the lateral direction.
The Miller patent, although representing a significant advance in the field, discloses a power mower in which the blade is single edged, does not protrude past the basic mower structure, and is not reversible.
The Tweedale patent discloses a lawn mower restricted to cutting turf, etc. and utilizes a relatively large cutter plate configured within a housing and a guard plate extending completely across its bottom.